G70
K
PabUihM by th« Onion Repnblicaa CoMTM»ioBal Oomaittec, Waabiastoa, D. 0
PEACE OR WAR.
HE DEMOCRATIC POSITION ILLUSTRATED BY
FRANK P. BLAIR, Jr.
Speeches of Senators Morton of Indiana, Stewart and Nye of Nevada,
)cliver€d in the United Slates Senate, Thursday/ and Friday, July Oih and 10th, 1868, on
the bill ofered by Sexatob Edmunds, of Vermont, to regulate the counting of the hlec-
(oral vote.
^f r. MORTON, said :
Mr. President ; I do not rise so much to
iscuss tke merits of these several proposi-
ioiis as to say that I shall vote for that of-
ered by the 8cnator from Vermont, [Mr.
Cdmcnds,] believing that it is more specitic
,nd direct than the other two ; but perhaps
,ny one of them would answer the purpose.
1 desire, however, to say one word in re-
gard to the importance of this measure. We
lavc been noting the proceedings of a con-
tention held in the city of New I'ork, which
las but just adjourned. I have read the res-
)lulions adopted by that convention, the plat-
brm of principles it has laid down, and
ipon which its candidates have been placed ;
ind I wish to call the attention of the Sen-
ite to the issue that is i>resented to the coun-
ry by this platform and by the character of
hese" candidates.
General Grant, in his letter of acceptance,
;aid. " Let us have peace;" but the Demo-
::ratic party by their Convention in New
York have said, " Let us have war ; there
shall be no peace-" They have declared in
substance, I might say perhaps, in direct
terms, that the reconstruction of these States
under the several acts of Congress shall not
be permitted to stand, but shall be over-
turned by military force if they get the power.
Thoy have announced that there shall be no
peacoin this country ; that there shall be no
settlement of our troubles except upon the
condition of the triumph of those who have
been in rebellion. This platform and these
nominations are a declaration of renewal of
the rebellion. Let me call your attention to
a ^lart of the eighth resolution in regard to
this very question. In speaking of the re-
construction of the States, they go on to say
4hat the power to regulate suffrage exists with
■"each State," making no difference between
loyal States that have been at peace and
States that have been in rebellion, putting
them all upon the same footing :
" And thiit anj attempt by CoBgresa on any pretext
whatever — "
That is, upon the "pretext" of the rebel-
lion, if you please —
"to dnprivo the State of this rij^ht, or interfi-ro with its
exercise, ih ii flivRrniit UHUrpntion of power which can
find no warrant in the Constitution ; und, if sanctioned
by tho people, will Hubvert our form of GoTernment."
Mr. HOWARD. Read the rest of it.
Mr. MORTON. Yes, sir, I will read the
balance of it:
"Andean only Olid in a einglo centralized und con-
solidated Uovornnient, in which the eeparato exist-
ence of tho States will bo entirely absorbed, and aa
miqualifiod despotism bo established in place of a Fed-
eral Union of coequal States, and that wo regard the
reconstruction acts (so-called) of Congress, aa such
usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and
void."
This convention has called upon the rebels
of the South to regard these governments
organized by authority of acts of Con;^res3
by'^thc people of those States as usurpations,
unconstitutional , and void, and has thereby in-
vited them again to insurrection and rebellion.
That is what that resolution means, lliere
is whore the Democratic party has placed
itself and its candidate, that there shall be
no acquiescence in the action of Congress,
but that continued resistance is and shall be
their policy. They have replied to General
Grant by saying, "There shall be no peace,
but the war "shall be renewed." There can
be no other policy for that party unless it ac-
quiesces; If it docs not accept these recon-
struction acts there can be no policy but that
of resistance and a renewal of the war. —
They declare these reconstruction acts to be
unconstitutional and void. Being void, no-
body is bound to regard them ; they have no
authority over any one to coerce or to pun-
ish, and may be resisted by any one with
impunity. That is not the language of this
resolution, but it is the substance aijjl the
n:ieaning of it ; and in consequence of this
it received the indorsement and the appro-
bation of the hundreds of rebels who were
in that Convention from the South, men who
organized the rebel government and organ-
ized and led the rebel armies in battle. This,
then, is the issue, a continuance of the war;
a renewal of the rebellion; because it is
^either that, or it is submission and acquies-
cence to what has been done.
But, Mr. President, we are not left to
grope for the meaning of this convention ;
we are not left even to seek for it by infer-
ence. We have a letter of General Francis
P. Blair, written, I believe, less than one
week ago, and this letter has been indorsed
by that Convention this afternoon by his
nomination as their candidate for the Vice
Presidency. At least I am informed that
he has been nominated.
Mr. POMEROY. Let us have the letter
read. I want to hear it.
Mr. MORTON. It is as much a part of
this platform as if it was incorporated in it,
for the ink was hai-dly dry before it was in-
dorsed by his nomination, I ask the Socre-
Uiry to read the letter.
The Chief Clerk read as follows:
WAsnixoTON, June 30, ISGS.
Dkah Colonel: Iu reply to your iuquiries I be}; Icavo
lo gay that I leave to you to determine, on consultation
with my IViends from Missouri, whether my name shall
bo presented to the Democratic convention, and to biih-
niit the following, as what 1 consider the real and only
issue iu this contest :
The reconstruction policy of tho Radicals will bo com-
plete before tho next election ; the States so long ex-
eluded will have been admitted; negro suffrage estab-
lished and the carpetbaggers installed in their seats in
both branches of Congress. There is no jJOssibility of
changing tho political character of the Senate, even if
the DemocratB should elect their President and a major-
ity of the popular branch of Congress. Wo cannot,
therefore, undo tho Radical plan of reconstruction by
congressional action; the i^enatu will continue a bar lo
its repeal. Must we submit to it ? llow can it bo over-
thrown? It can ou'y bo overthrown by tho autliority
of tho Executive who is sworn to maintain the Consti-
tution, and who will fail to do his duty if he allows the
Constitution to perish under a series of congressional
enactments which aro iu palpable violation of its fund-
amental principles.
If the I'resident elected by the Democracy enforces
or permits others to enforce the^e reconstruction
acts, the Radicals by tho accession of twenty spurious
Senators niul (illy "Representatives will control both
branches of Congress, aud his administration will be as
powerless as the present ono of Mr. Johnson.
There is but ono way to restore tho Government and
theCoustitutiou,and that is for the President-elect to
declare the.-,o acts null and void, compel tho Army to
undo its usurpations at tho South, disperse tho carpet-
bag SUito govertiUieuts, allow tho white people to reor-
ganize their own governments, and elect Senators and
Rcpresent.itives. Tho House of Representatives will
contain a majority of Democrats from tho North, and
they wiil admit tho Representatives elected by the
white people of the South, and with the co-operation of
tlio President it will not bo difTicult to compel the Sen-
ate to submit once more to tho obligations of the Cou-
Btitatiou. It will not be able to withstand the public
judgment, if distinctly invoked and cloorly expressed
on this fundamental issue, und it is tho sure way' to
avoid all future strife to put the issue plainly to the
country. '
I repeat that this is the real and onlv question which
wo should allow to control us; shall wo submit to the
usmpations by which tho Government ha.s been over-
thrown, or shall we exert ourselves for its lull and com-
plete restoration? It is idle to talk of bonds, green-
backs, gold, tho public faith, and the public credit.
What can u Democratic President do in re;;ard to any
of these with a Congress in both branches controlled
by tho carpet-baggers and their allies ? He will be
powerlesj to stop the supplies by which idle negroes
are organized into political clubs— by which an army
is maintiiined to protect these vagabonds in their out-
rages upon the ballot. These, and things like these, eat
uj) the revenues and resources of the Government and
do.-.troy its credit — make the difference between gold
and greeobacks. We must restore tho Constituiion be-
fore we ran restore the finances, and to do this we must
have u President who will e.xecuto tho will of the peo-
ple by trampling into dust tho usurpations of Congress
known as tho reconstruction acts. I wish tostand before
the convention upon this issue, but it is one which em-
braces everything else that is of value in its large and
comprehensive results. It is theone thing that includes
all tliat is worth a contest, and without it there is noth-
ing that gives dignity, honor, or value to the struggle.
Your friend, FRANK P. BLAZE.
Colonel James 0. Broadheab.
i\rr. MORTON. Mr. President, Uat is
the Democratic platform. General Blair,
whatever you may say of him, is a bold, out-
spoken man, and he spoke tl4e sentiment of
that Convention. He says, " U'])on these
sentiments I want to stand before the Con-
vention ;" and upon those sentiments he was
nominated. Therefore, I say that the lan-
gua";eof the Democratic Convention at New
York to the wholecountry is war ; resistance
by force of arms to Congressional legislation:
the overthrow by force of arms of the govern-
ments that have been erected in the rebel
States under the laws enacted by Congress ;
the continuance of this rebellion ; continu-
ance of this struggle in a somewhat different
form, but still the same struggle, contending
for the same principles. It is now announced
formally, not at Montgomery, not at Rich-
mond, but at New Y^ork. The country need
not be at any loss to understand the charac-
ter of the contest upon which m'c are enter-
ing. It is not one of peace and acquies-
cence, of consolidation whereby the ravages
of war may be repaired ; but it is a new de-
claration of war; a new announcement of
the rebellion under somewhat different cir-
cumstances, but under circumstances formid-
able, dangerous, and solumn. Let the coun-
try look tho struggle in the face.
General Blair has said truly that all that is
said about greenbacks and bonds and ques-
tions of finance is mere nonsense. The great
issue is the question of overturning the new
State governments by force, the restoration
of the power of the rebels, or as they call it
the white men's government in those States.
and all the rest is leather and prunnella.
We owe a debt of gratitude to General Blair
for hi.s frankness. There need be no dcccp-
Eix-cnanK®
WoBt.Bee.Biirt.Boo.
tion pnicticcd now, and there can bo none.
It' Scyinour shall be elected upon that plat-
form he stands pledged to use the army of
the United SUtos tor the purpose of over-
turning the governmontu that have been oh-
tablishod in the South by the voice of the
whole people, and by that army to place the
power back again into the hands of the rebels.
They were there with him in that Conven-
tion. They have given to him their counsel.
They have "indorsed Mr. Seymour, and the
Convention and all havo indorsed General
Francis P. Blair.
1 know that we shall be told in the North-
west thai th.-y intend to have the same cur-
rency far the Government and the people,
for the bondholder and the laborer. They
will proclaim ta::ation of the bonds, as the
groat if:suo upon which they expect to gel
votes ; but that will be a deception. The
"real I.^sue underlying; the whole contest—
and we have the solemn declaration of their
candidate for Vice President to that elToct —
will be the renewal of the war to overturn
the State governments that have just been es-
tablished under the acts of Congress. Gen-
eral Blair has retieved the Republican party
of a groat deal of labor. IIo has unmasked
the enemy with whom we have to deal, and
he has placed before the country the very
issue, police or war.
SPEECH OF SENATOR STEWART.
Mr. President, I see the embarrassment
under which the Democratic party is labor-
ing; and the misfortune that nas befallen it
to-day will no doubt embarrass it still more
hereafter. 1 seethe embarrassment that this
particular bill presents to the members of
that party. Individuals of that party say
they intend revolution, and Frank P. Blair
sought to be nominated upon that issue-
lie avows his ]>urpose of overturning seven
States of this Union now entitled to repre-
sentation upon this floor. He will do it by
revolution. He says it cannot be done by
legislation, because the Senate is in the way ;
it must be done by force- I have been read-
ing the platform, and I find that it dodges the
question and declares that the reconstruction
measures are unconstitutional and void.
The Democratic party, it appears, are un-
willing to .say, in express language, what they
intend to do with a portion of the States in
this Union, whether ihey intend again to put
them out. The Domocraiic patty once broke
up the government,^ of those Stales ; we have
partially restored them. None of them have
come square up to the point except Mr.
Frank Blair. He has come up to it pretty
squarely. I do not understand the Senator
from Pennsylvania on that issue.
I say this bill is undoubtedly embarrassing
to them, because we tell thi.'m exactly what
we intend to do: that we intend that every
State rcstorud to representation in this
Union, that shall have been reorganized,
shall vote and participate in the Presidential
election ; that no disorganized rebel State
shall vote ; that all the States represented
in Congress shall vote. That is the exact
rule which we followed in 1864, and for
which the Senator from Pennsylvania him-
self voted. Wo intend to take that broad,
honest ground in advance : and we do not
fear the threats of individuals, or of the
whole Democratic party, tiat they will again
attempt to destroy this Government. We
want to have it dielinctly understood that
none but legitimate State governments shall
be represented in Congress and the Electoral
College, and that they shall be represented ;
and then we want to see which side of that
issue the Democratic party will take. I
know that it is embarrassing to them to ad-
mit that the work of reconstruction is legal-
ly, justly, and honestly progreseing, notwith-
standing all the obstructions that the Execu-
tive, that an organized band of rebels in the
South, that the organized Democracy, and
all the elements that are bad in this country
put together, have been aide to throw in the
way. Notwithstanding all the obstructions
of these elements that arc attempting to de-
stroy our country, the work is progressing —
the States are being restored. We shall not
be scared because the gentlemen who have
organized these governmenks in the South,
and have come here backed up by a loyal
constituency, are denounced as "carpet-
baggers" by the rebel leaders in New York,
who treated as honored guests Forrest and
Wade Hampton. We had to fight once be-
fore agains^t the same horde of men, many
of the leaders of whom were in New York.
We know that they arc powerful, but we
whipped them once. Let them try again to
pull aowu the (Tovernmenl that we build up.
Let them laugh at the " carj)et-b.iggers" as
much as thoy please- We have seen all the
schemes they concocted vanish into thin air.
We know Seymour. He is not ready to rev-
olutionize. I hold in my hand a speech of
his made in 18(53 which has enough sophis-
try, if it had been accompanied by the cour-
age of a Hampton or a Forrest, to have
plunged the North into civil war- He dare
not l.iy his hand upon a State tliat we reor-
ganize. Frank Blair is a braver man and
an hojiestor man, and he told plainly what
they would like to do ; but I tell you, sir,
the Democracy dare not come up and say
that they will tear down a single Stat*? of
this Union. Thoy dare not go before the
people on that Issue.
This is no new doctrlue
It has been dis-
cussed over and over in this Hall. Let the
Democracy, if they dare, go before the coun-
try saying that they will tear down and put
out of the Union tho seven reorganized
States. I should like to have them sound
the tocsin of war and see if the American
people are prepared for another revolution.
What Frank Blair says means revolution.
These men cannot be turned from these
Halls except by violence ; these State organ-
izations cannot be overthrown except by the
shedding of blood.
Mr. HOWARD. It cannot be done in
that way either.
Mr. STEWART. It cannot be done by
modern Democracy in that way : and when
they dare announce any such purpose they
will have fewer followers than they had on
a former occasion. I have before me their
platform. They are going to pretend to the
ignorant and the vicious that this means "we
will wipe out of existence every State that
has been redeemed," and when they meet a
man who has a little money and does not
want to go to war they will say " we are op-
posed to \'iolence and willing to let things
take their own course."
I want to pass this bill beforehand. I d©
not want to wait until after the election has
taken place and then pass a law which they
will call ex post facto. I want the people
to know exactly what they are voting on, and
who has a right to vote, before the election, so
as to avoid any unpleasant conseq^uences.
The people of the United States want no
more revolution, no more war. The people
of the South do not believe they can subju-
gate us. They do not believe they can re-
verse the verdict of the war. They cannot
humiliate the Union soldiers who sustained
the old flag.
Now, what is there in this bill? It is sim-
ply a declaration that the States represented
in Congress that have been organized shall
vote in the Electoral College, and none
others. The Senator from Pennsylvania
says that unless the disorganized vote the
organized shall not ; that unless you let the
three disorganized States that have not yet
complied with our terms, that are not repre-
sented in Congress, vote, the represented
States shall not vote. What docs that mean ?
The Democratic party will not let organized
States, States represented in these Halls,
vote. I will not discuss the power of Con-
gress, but I say there is not power enough
in the Democratic party, with the Executive
at their head, to maintain the position that
they can put one of these States out of the
Union. How are you going to prevent one
of these StJites from voting? How are you
going to prevent her vote from being
counted? In no other way than by puttin"-
beroutofthe Union.
If that is the new declaratron of war we
arc to meet let us know the fact now. and
let us fight the battle before the people on
that issue. The necessity of this bill'has be-
come apparent from this discussion. We
want to know what are the purposes of this
party, whether they mean revolution or
whether they mean peace ; whether they
mean war and rapine and plunder and over-
throw of the Government, and the preven-
tion of the represented States from voting,
or whether they mean to submit to the law.
I think the Democratic party have had
enough of war. I think they have had
enough of tearing down States. But perhaps
the ovation which the rebel generals re-
ceived in New York has inspired them with
new hope, and they think the ''little un-
pleasantness" did not amount to much after
all. Perhaps they are prepared to join the
Northern Democracy in another eQort to put
States out of the Union, and to overthrow
State organizations ; but I think they will
hesitate a little.
It is well enough for us to make the declar-
ation contained in this bill, so that the peo-
ple will know where we staind ; but it is not
to be supposed that the Democratic party
are going to declare anything affirmatively
on such a question. After having destroyed
their best men by the two-thirds rule, and
having got men that we are accustomed to,
that we know all about, we have no appre-
hensions. We all know the connection of
Seymour with. New York politics during the
war. We know how he acted during the
New York riots. We know how his appeals
to his friends iu the city of New York af-
fected the loyal masses oi the country. We
know how we in the West felt at the obstruc-
tion of Seymour to the progress of the war.
We know what power he had then, and we
believe that he evinced a disposition, if he
had had the requisite courage to back his dis-
position, to plunge the whole country in war.
We have seen him go as far up to the verge
of revolution as he dare go, but he has had a
little experience since then.
I hold in my hands now a speech of Hon.
Horatio Seymour, delivered on the 4th or
July, 18G3, a speech that I have read on sev-
eral occasions. It is a speech full of fault-
finding with the Government, putting ideas
in the minds of the people to make them
dissatisfied, complaining of your sectional
strife and your sectional war, calculated in
every way to breed discontent ; and this,
too, when the country was in the most im-
minent peril. At that critical time, instead
of coming forward arxl vindicating the au-
thority of the Government, we find Horatio
Seymour filling the minds of the people with
distrust and reverting to the mistakes of the
Government. With a stem Governor at
New York, such a Governor as Indiana had,
there would have been no New York nots.
With such a Governor iis Ohio had there-
would have been no New "i'ork riots. The
weight of Uiat great State, the moral influ-
ence of its Governor was thrown against the
cause of the Union in such a manner and at
sucii a time as to prolong the war, I verily
believe, more than one whole year. 1 hat
Governor had all his predictions falsified,
for he predicted failure all the time. After
having seen our arms ride triumphant over
ix thousand battle-fields; after having seen
the rebellion put down; after having seen
the loyal Congress engaged for four years in
reconstruction and restoration, ho is now
the candidate of those opposed to the gal-
lant leader of the armies that saved the na-
tion. That noble man is at the head of the
great party who conducted the war. and who
have been endeavoring, against the eftbrts
of rebels, Democrats and the Executive, to
restore this (iovernment. I say that after
all this Seymour has not the nerve to do
what this platform intimates that the Demo-
cracy will do, namely, tear down the States
ibat have been built up.
SPEECH OF SENATOR J. W. NYE.
Mr. President, I care but little whether
the amendment offered by the Senator from
New York is adopted or not. It amounts to
about the same thing as the original proj)©-
sition. But I am not willing to let go un-
challenged the things that have come from
the honorable Senator from Kentucky. —
While he has been sneaking I have thought
whether there should not be a change in the
form of the Lord's Prayer in Kentucky:
•' Give us this day our daily bread, if consist-
ent with the Constitution; but be sure. O
Lord, give us white bread made for white
men." That form, I think, would be adap-
ted to the creed which the honorable Sena-
tor has just proposed.
In the course of an existence as long as
that of the honorable Senator from Ken-
tucky, there is hardly a phase of political
life that he has not seen. I was forcibly
impressed with that in his allusion to IS'lO.
Where, then, was the honorable Senator's
heart?
Mr. DA^^S. Exactly where it is now, for
the Union, tho Constitution, and the enforce-
ment of the law.
Mr. NYE. I recollect very distinctly that
very year hearing the distinguished Senator
denounce the Democracy in more unmeas-
ured terms than he is capable of denouncing
the Kepublicau parly. Ihey had beaten his
pet, Mr. Clay, and he never has forgiven
then), lie came here at the commencement
of this rebellion a strong Union man ; and
he says now that he hugs to his very soul a
platform that disunionists have made. I
merely suggest these things to show that
where next he may be found, the Lord only
knows, in the new catechism which Ken-
tucky may put forth.
He has spoken of the barbarities of some
negco chieftain, whose nami; I did not un-
dcr<<tand, of wlmm he read. And yet those
barbarities pale into insignificance in com-
parison with tiie butchery of Eorresl at Fort
rillow; and he was one of the men who
made the platform that my honorable friend
loves BO well. Above all men living, the
honorable Senator is the last one, if he can
hug such a thing to his bosom, to be shocked
at the barbarities of barbarism, untutored as
it is.
Mr. President, the honorable Senator says
that tiie Republican party will die. So it
will. So will the honorable Senator die. So
will all the parties he has belonged to die.
Rut, sir. the fruits that this RepubHcan party
has brought forth will never die. They have
not expended their strength, like the hon-
orable Senator, in trying to depress a race
numbering four millions in our midst. They
have not taxed their ingenuity to find argu-
ments by which they could make the bonds
with which the slaves were bound strong.
Their boast is, and will be when the honora-
ble Senators memory will be forgotten, that
they felt for those who were in bonds as
though they were bound with them, and
broke the shackles that made man a slave.
Let the honorable Senator and his colleagues
and his coadjutors glorj- in their oppression,
and glory in the fact thatthey have trampled
the oppressed deeper in the mire of oppres-
sion where they found them. Uut. sir, let
it be my boast and the boast of the party to
which 1 belong, that there is not a man so
low but what they would elevate him to the
pure, highest heavens where angels dwell.
Sir, that seems to me to be more in accord-
ance with the spirit of our Master ; that is
more in accordance with the spirit of repub-
lican institutions: and that sentiment will
grow. Let not the honorable Senator think
that that sentiment will die. No, sir. it is
now having its second birth amid the trou-
bles and conflicts and toils of arms and civil
strife. .
Sir. I witnessed the gathering from whicn
salvation is to come, which the honorable
Senatxir perches upon and proclaims to be
his roost during the campaign. I witnessed
this organization. I looked in upon it;
What did I sec? I wish I had a Hogarth's
pencil to sketch it, or words in which I could
convey the faintest idea of that group of
indescribable animals. Who was there?
Wade Hampton ; and at the mcatioii
of his name the Democracy shouted by
order. 'J'hat is what they call '•fratornal
love." Who else was there? Rhctt, of
South Carolina ; it ought to bo spelled with
a ch. Who else was here? Hammond, who
pronounced the people ftf the color of my
honorable friend *' mudsills." Oh, what a
source to look to for salvation ! Who else
was there? Forrest, the butcher. No
milder name is fit to use as descriptive of
him — a man who coldly murdered by order
defenseless men who stacked their arms and
surrendered. Tell me, sir, what kind of
salvation you will get froiu that source?
And whore were they? In the largest city
2pon this continent. W^ith whom were they
associated? With men of-the North. There
sat Forrest and Seymour, the latter presid-
ing over the deliberations, as they were
called, at this convocation of unclean things.
Whose voices were heard first? Men whose
hands wore red •vvith loyal blood. Oh, the
spirit of fraternity there exhibited ! They
always agreed. One was a traitor with a
sword, and- the other a traitor without a
sword ; that M-as all the difference. }5ut
how my honorable friend from Kentucky
hii^s their progeny ! A sweet thing to hug !
May your embrace belong and enduring!
Mr. President, what is this thing that the
honorable Senator hugs so fondly ? A green-
back platform with an anti-greenback can-
didate.
Mr. SHERMAN. A greyback.
Mr. NYE. A greyback candidate.
Mr. SUMNER. On a greyback platform.
Mr. NYE. That is what I say. It is a
platform for peace and a general for lieuten-
ant on it, second in command, and a gen-
eral who was nominated by rebels. I think,
if my recollection is correct, an honorable
gentleman from Kentucky nominated Frank
Blair. I do not wonder that my honorable
friend loves the platform. It is a platform
whose every line and lineament is marked
vyilh repudiation. Is it for that that the dis-
tinguished Senator hugs it? It is a platform
whose every line is a fraud and almost every
word a lie ; a platform of professions in
which they do not believe, of hope to the
head to be broken to the heart. That is the
platform on wliich my honorable friend ex-
pects to_ ride into that happy haven where
he is going to look with so much compla-
cency, much as he describes Grant looking
upon the battle-fiold, upon the destruction
of the hosts of the Republican party.
Perched away up on that uncertain roost he
is going to have his vision satisfied by look-
ing upon the ruins of those below. In 1864
I read a speech at quite a distance from
here in which the honorable Senator was
fillly as sanguine in expression at least as
now, that in 18G4 the Republican party were
to be demolished ; but the Republican party
survived both the prediction of the honora-
ble Senator and the power of his opposition.
Sir, to these saviours we are to look. —
These are the men to whom in these troub-
lous times ray honorable friend from Ken-
tucky and those who act with him turn f()r'
protection. Who are they? Men who are
yet counting the notches upon their swords
that they wore gallantly by iheir sides for
four or five years in an earnest, terrible
struggle to overthrow this country. They are
the saviours now who are going to uphold
them ! How are they going to uphold them?
By overturning all that has been done to
build up the wi.sto places they made. When
a man is sick he seeks a physician the most
skillful he can find. When a nation is troub-
led the peojile seeks the friends of the na-
tion to uphold it. They feel its pulsations.
They want men loyal to the country, loyal to
our institutions. There is where I look for
help, for aid in this struggle. But my hon-
orable friend and the Democratic host with
which he is surrounded look to the rebels.
They will give you such protection as \m\-
tures give to lambs. Th(?y will give you the
protection that Forrest gave at Fort Pillow,
and the thousand bloody fields upon which
we met. What, sir, trust a man with a bal-
lot to uphold this country who has been for
five years with the bullet trying to overthrow
it ! It is an insult to the intelligence of the
world ; and I assure the honorable Senator
from Kentucky the world will not swallow
the hook as greedily as he has, nor hug a
platform so full of dead men's bones.
Mr. President, on earth or in heaven I
would rather be found by the side of the
blackest man in the country than with For-
rest. How will stand the account of the
loyal black man that has been led by the un-
certain glimpses of his vision to follow that
flag which had heretofore only been a sym-
bol of oppression to him, and followed it
faithfully to the end; how will his account
stand in the day of judgment with the God
who loves liberty and of whom liberty wag
born, beside the man who did all in his
power to tear down the fairest fabric that
liberty ever reared? and such is Forrest ;
such is Wade Hampton ; such is all the
Democratic party in the Southern States.
There are not enough men in the Democratic
party in the Southern States who were not
rebels to count as "'scattering;" and there-
fore 1 shall not hereafter in what I have to
say of them draw any distinction.
I want this resolution introduced by the
honorable Senator from Vermont to guard
against the very catastrophe that the honor-
able Senator from Kentucky threatens U3
with. Sir, is Congress to inquire, and who
is to keep register whether the votes cast for
7e
(Icnerul Grant are cast by colored men or
white mciiV Who is goin- to see in the
books when the ballot is deposited, winch
class of men it was who deposited xt? Arc
the honorable Senators and his confreres
goin" to have censors upon the box? Arc
thcyl'oin" to stamp the ballot of the white
man and not stamji the Udlot of the bUvk
man? If not. what docs the honorable
Senator mean when he defiantly tells us that
no matter what Congress may do, the vote
that tlie whito man casts will bo the vote that
is counted. Sir, I repudiate all such non-
sense as that, as it appears to me to be.
But, sir, iJie honorable Senator has spo-
ken verv confidently of what the Democracy
are going to do- 1 want to mention to the
honorabte Senator one or two things which
the Republicans have done that will stay
done. We have given the loyal men of the
Southern States the ballot. Now, take it
away, if you can, and show us the process
by which you will do it. Let us see w^liat
you will do it with. They have availed
themselves ot that ballot. They have do-
posited it; they have put on the garment of
citizenship, and I challenge the Democracy
to touch one thread of that garment. It is
stainped, it is scaled with the in«ignia of
freedom, and I charge you lay not your
hands upon it. Sir, it is the decree of a
mighty people as irrevocable as the decree
of God, and the honorable Senator may sat-
isfy himself on that point. And the honor-
able Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Bcck-
ALEw] last night seemed to bo waiting for
the voice of the people. Sir, you have had
it twice; and the same voice that emanated
from heaven is echoed back by man, Vox
populi vox Dei. Touch not that seal ; it is
the freeman's power. I defy you to take it
from him. Attempt that and bloodier
scenes will be re-enacted upon the alread}"^
fresh bloody lields. Sir, men fight for free-
dom. They will not lay it down. They
have fought for freedom npon the battle-
field ; they won their quitclaim to liberty ;
they have got it ; and let not the Democratic
party dream of taking it away. And yet,
sir, the honorable Senator, or those who act
with him, find no sort of awakening, enliven-
ing sentiment from this great fact, but the
contrary.
Sir, there has not been a transaction on
earth since the crucifixion that thrilled the
world with such ecstatic joy as when the
last shackle of the slave was broken and fell
at his feet. Music never reached its perfec-
tion until they sang the song of univer.sal
freedom; and if I was at all accustomed to
deal in fancy I could fancy now ihai I hoar
the angel chorus catching up the sound
'•Peace on earth and good will to man ; the
last slave is free: liberty is iriumi-iiant."
But over this my Democratic friends feel no
jubilee. It is a source of mourning to them.
Weep on, weep on; the seal is set; llio
Democratic party will never again have pow-
isr in this nation until it changes its princi-
[ilis, until it ceases to be oppressive and
Iciiriis to glory in freedom.
I am strengthened in this conviction by the
l)roceedings of the last Democratic Conven-
tion. Whoever s.-wv two such elements of
weakness combined ? If there was any folly
in the Republican party, the wisdom of God
has come in. Who could have conceived
that two such men would have been born of
that Democratic Convention. Blair, (to be-
gin with the last and inostunimportant first, )
who, as restless as tlie spirit that fomented
rebellion in heaven, who acknowledges no
discijiline to man or law, "a l.iw unto him-
self;"' who throws on defiantly to such patri-
ots as Hampton and Forrest that the only
way to put these States into their original
status is for the President to take the helm
and drive this Senate out. No wonder that
it woke an echo in Wade Hampton's bosom
and in Forrest's and in Hammond's ; it was
the old signal for rebellion again. They
were going to get a Blair to lead them in that
rebellion. The world knows that the health
of the gentleman they have nominated for
President is very precarious. an<l he refused,
as many times as Ctesar did tlie crown, to
tike it on account of his health. "J'hey have
put forv.-aad this ticket in point of physical
strength like the hyena, the strength in the
hind legs to endure disease, its weak man
ahead to be shoved of as Lincoln was, or in
some other way, and then they will have got
not only old rebels, but a new one with the
whole machinery of government. It is well
planned, and no wonder it awoke echoes of
ecstacy in Forrest's and Hampton's bosom
when they hoard the name of Blair and his
letter: and that is the platform and that the
candidate that my friend from Kentucky
loves so well.
Sir who is nominated for President? A
man that 1 have known all my life ; and a
gentlemanly man he is undoubtedly, but no
uusounder man, politically, walks than he. I
listened last night to a little running debate
between my colleague and my honored t'ricnd
from Pennsylvania, in which the latter bore
testimony to the patriotism^ and fidelity of
the then Governor of New York. I took oc-
casion to reread last night the speech made
by that distinguished goulleman on the 4th
of July , 18G3, just tcndays before the bloodiest
riot in the world. It was a terrible day, that
4tli of .Inly, for the rebels ; there came up a
wail of woe from the rebels at Vicksburg and
at Gettysburg.
On that day, after a draft had been ordered
by the President of the United Sutes to fill
8
up the ranks, the head of this ticket was ad-
dressing a Democratic meoVing in a, hall in
the city of New York, and he said that the
law of necessity was never to be invoked by
a nation, and said, not in the precise words,
and they are here, that the mob could in-
voke the law of necessity as well as a nation.
Sir, quick as the lightning's flash and as
electric in its influence the mob did arise,
caught. up the idea that had been slumbering,
touched the torch which ingulfed a city in
blood, and fatal wore the consequences of
that riot. I think eleven thousand — I am
not quite certain as to the number — troops
had to be taken from the army of the Poto-
mac; a large number of troops had to be
taken to the city of New York, the chief
magistrate of which State is now at the head
of ihe Democratic ticket, to do what? To
keep peace in that city and to enforce the
drafting of men and to put down the spirit
of rebellion which was as rife there as at
Charleston. The world will not forget the
correspondence between Governor Seymour
and General Di.x, and I remember how my
blood jumped a little quicker, old as I am,
when the General informed the Governor at
a certain time that he had troops enough
there then to preserve the city and take care
of him, too. Oh, such a patriot! Sir, if you
look for salvation from that mob engendared
by him go look at the ashes of the colored
orphan asylum in New York. "Would it have
done the heart of the Senator from Kentucky
good to have seen demons in human shape
beating out the brains of black infancy?
Loolc at the lurid light of tlie hospital reared
by the best charity in the world. Look at the
murder of O'Brien who was brutally hanged
and his form mutilated worse than would
have been done by the barbarians whom the
honorable Senator described this morning.
This Governor addressed these bloody-hand-
ed scoundrels, and called them "friends."
They were his friends; they are to-day; it is
no misnomer. They caught up the torch
which he lighted; they had performed the
work; he was congratulating them upon it,
and he addressed them as "friends." They
received him as such. lie is.
Sir, I want the rule proposed by this joint
resolution prescribed by legislation. I want
no more trouble in this matter. We have
wooed these States as a mother wooes her
first-born. We have given them milk in their
weakness and meat in their strength. We
have invited them back time after time to
the mansion where there is bread enough
and to spare, but they would not come.
Now, sir, I do net propose that they shall
come under the fiery or erratic lead of Blair
or Seymour, and break into the mansion,
the door of which they have heretofore re-
fused to enter. To do that they shall, at
least HO far as my vote is concerned, breai
over the forms of law.
Mr. President, indulge me in a word more.
It is .said that in Union there is strength. We
have a platform made with entire unanimity.
But recently, for four or five sweltering hot
days in the city of New York, in that new-
born Babel of Tammany, did hundreds of
Democrats sweat, voting tor this man and
that man, with no result, and all the time
there was a deep laid plan, which the mass
of them did not comprehend, to get the very
man they have got. I cannot help contrast-
ing in my mind that Convention with the one
at Chicago. The Convention at Chicago had
just twice as many delegates as tlie one at
New York. 'J'he first thing done there was
to make a platform on which they all agreed,
and the next thing was to nominate a Presi-
dent, and each State was called and each
State answered until six hundred and three
delegates had spoken, and every vote was for
one man right off, without any caucus, with-
out any consultation. They looked to him as
the child looks to its father for protection.
They remembered the thousand victories to
which he had led them, and their eyes as in-
voluntary turned upon him as a leader in the
civil strife as in the strife of arras. To me
that was a noble and inspiring sight. Let
not the honorable Senator from Kentucky
believe that such unity of sentiment is to be
overborne by this fragmentary party called
Democratic.
Let me refer to another difference. We
havg a warrior at the head and a man of
peace emphatically as the second nominee,
a man whose name is written as firmly and
as boldly on the civil page of his country's
history as Geneeal Grant's is on the military
page. AVhen Grant was leading our armies
against the hosts of rebellion it was prophe-
sied that Lee would never surrender. Now,
the Senator from Kentucky, bolder, braver,
and less considerate than Lee, says that this
platform with its backers will never surren-
der. Let liim that casteth oil' hi? armor
boast ; not he that putteth it on. Sir, there
will not be enough of it for formal surrender-
They will be suffered to go home without
terms. Their arms are worthless, for they
are the arms of error ; their weapons are
powerless, l^ecause they are untruthful. No,
sir ; my gallant friend from Kentucky will
have to seek atliliation with another party
before he gels in a majority. He will have
to join the army of progress and freedom,
hitching to no snub-post of the past, but
marching on to that haven of destiny of man
where all men shall bo equal before the law.
PBI.VTED AT THE GREAT UEPUBLIC OFFICE, AYASaiNOTON, D. C.
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11